Vintage Visage produce vintage patterns for knitting, crochet and all types of needlecrafts. This blog is about what treasures we find, how you can make vintage inspired items, with lots of hits, tips and inspiring notions

pins and brooches

12/29/2012

This is a lovely and very sweet pattern that originated in the 1940s for a 'dickie bow' and crochet beads.

The bow would make a very cute brooch or pin, and the beads - once you understand the process- can be made in any type or colour of yarn that you prefer. You can make them as necklaces, or in clusters as pins or brooches, or use them to decorate hats, bags accessories etc.

This pattern will help you use up all your odds and ends of yarn- even tiny pieces as you could make the beads stripy......

You can find the pattern as a pdf download at our website here with lots more necklace and crochet jewellery patterns too

12/14/2012

We have a lovely ebooklet for you on the website now which features 8 very pretty flower doilies to make- you can make them in the original fine yarns for doilies and centre pieces- but why not use some thicker modern yarns and use the flowers and butterflies individually to make cute pins, buttons and brooches, or to decorate hats, bags and clothes......

10/09/2012

This is such a wonderful booklet which is crammed full of ideas of how to make bows, rosettes and flowers from ribbons and pretty fabrics. It dates from the 1920s flapper era and will give you lots of inspiration for making pins, brooches, corsage as well as using the flowers to decorate hair bands, hats and clothing.

These pretty flowers and rosettes would also be beautiful for bridal wear - they would look so sweet on hair decorations, veils and head dresses. Not to mention decorating little bags and capes too.

We have digitalised the booklet which has 48 pages crammed with illustrations and instructions of how to make all of these pretty flowers and so many more. You will also find fruits such as raisins and apples in there too.

There are roses, wild roses, rose buds, chrysanthemum, violets- and so many more. There are also ideas and instructions for making pleated and plaited trimmings.

09/29/2012

Today we have been digitalising items from the 1940s and came across these lovely flower corsages which were made in the wartime 1940s. They were made from old shoe laces as in those days, women had to be inventive about what they could use to embellish and decorate their clothing.

They decorated their clothing with pins and embellishment to really disguise the fact that they did not have a lot of items in their wardrobe!

Today you may be able to find a fair few spare laces as a lot of the youngsters take out the laces in their trainers and converses, either to add new coloured ones or just wear without them....(its not so many years ago that my daughter got told off for doing that by an older lady, who said she would get a 'claw toe' if she didn't tie her laces properly..... ....scary stuff but her feet seem normal today so it can't have been too bad!)

We have seen corsages made from lots of items, but this is the first time we have seen shoelaces used! I think we are all familiar now with flowers and corsages made from old zips, so maybe these will catch on as well....

here are the instructions

You could of course also add vintage buttons and beads into the centres....enjoy making these and have fun using up old laces....!

09/27/2012

You probably already know that we love instructions to make all sorts of flowers here at Vintage Visage- and these beautiful crocheted flowers are no exception. These are not your usual little 2 or 3 row crochet flowers, these are a lot more fancy and out of the ordinary. yes, they may take a little longer to make but they will be worth the effort as they will look spectacular as pins, brooches, corsage or even bouquets if you are clever enough to put lots and lots together .....

This one has so many petals and looks wonderful in red- and you could also make it in lots of different shades of reds and pinks for the petals- you could use up lots if left over yarns that way.....this daisy too is fabulous in white- wonderful for brides and wedding,- imagine these on a wedding veil or headress or in a crocheted bouquet..... and they could also be made in pastel colours, or bright colours like gerbera flowers too....

These pretty apple blossom flowers are so sweet and would look wonderful mixed in with the daisies.....I think I would be tempted to add some fragrance too - don't you just sense the lovely smell that apple blossom has.....little lavender or rose petal bags in with the flowers would be so lovely......

Why not use these to embellish hats and bags too? A cluster of apple blossom would look fantastic on a hat

and these carnations are so deceptively easy to make- you could tape them to wire stems, pop them is vases and have them as centre pieces for the wedding or dining table.....or on a napkin ring......

These carnations are rather fab too- personally I 'm not so keen on the yellow colour, but again they are so simple to make and you could have reds, russets, golds and oranges all together....or go pastel with softer colours altogether- lilacs,primrose, bluebell, shades could look lovely.....

09/23/2012

This is one of our favourite vintage publications and we are pleased to let you know that we have now digitalised it and it is available on the website as an ebook.

Butterflies are such a pretty shape in design and colour, and there is so much that you can do with these beautiful little butterfly designs. The original book gives you designs for hats, gloves, light pulls, bedspreads, table decorations etc. All of which are lovely, especially if you after a vintage feel and look. However- we do think that these little beautys would look fantastic today as pins, brooches, hair decorations, in corsages ( in amongst a lot of crocheted flowers...), necklaces- bib necklaces would be fab- , and also to decorate accessories such as hats and bags, and clothes.....

Take a look at some of the pretty butterflies available to make below

This hat and gloves are so pretty and elegant- if the hat was made in whites and creams then it could look fantastic for a bride

We love this idea- lots of tiny wee butterflies made from lots of odds and ends of left over yarns and appliqued to a blouse. These could easily be made into pins or brooches- you could leave them nice and soft, and make lots of different colours and sizes from different thicknesses of yarns. You could also stiffen them with old fashioned starch or modern fabric stiffener- try also backing them with a stiff fabric with fusible interlining/bondaweb. You could use plain fabrics or lovely printed fabrics for a wonderful contrast.....very sellable!

Here is a selection of the butterflies in the ebooklet which have been appliqued onto a bedspread, net/organza curtains and a lampshade....if you ar elooking to make home decor items you could make lots of plain granny squares in plain colours and pop a pretty multicoloured crocheted butterfly on the top of each one.....

These little chaps (or chapesses ) have been popped onto a doily for the table- but again could just as easily be popped onto bags or hats to give pretty embellishments

These are so pretty- they were originally meant to decorate the ends of light pulls but we think that they are so pretty that they should be found more places than that! How can you se these being used?....let us know your ideas.

09/21/2012

You may be watching the new series of Downton Abbey TV series which is set in the early 1920s. The series is full of lovely costumes and in the last programme it showed the ladies of the manor getting ready for the wedding of Lady Mary. We have already shown some patterns very much like the long lean dresses they were wearing- but did you see Lady Crawleys corsage and hat?

She had the most lovely fabric rose chiffon or organza flower as a corsage and the same flowers on her hat. Now can make your own beautiful fabric rose corsages from our instructions which are downloadable from the website (links below the pictures)

Now here at Vintage Visage we have mentioned how much we love sewing fabric flowers- they look so pretty and are useful as they use up lots of scraps of beautiful fabrics. We have a selection of very pretty genuine 1920s sewing instructions for these pretty flowers below. The first one, the wild rose, is very like Lady Crawleys corsage on Downton Abbey....

its so pretty- imagine lots of these set together on a hat too- gorgeous!

This one is smaller but still so pretty- its been made here with a spotty dotty fabric but you can of course use plain or printed fabrics- vintage floral fabrics would look lovely...

This one for instance is made from plaid or tartan fabric- you also get the instructions for the wonderful bunch of grapes too

These fabric flowers were made from black velvet for a very luxurious feel

And if you are looking for something pretty but slightly less fancy, then these little 1920s fruit and leaf clusters made from tiny scraps of silk would fit the bill nicely.

All of these could be made as gifts, or to sell- try presenting them on pretty cards for a cute touch.

09/11/2012

Very often people get mixed up with flowers made with yarn made on a flower loom, and crocheted flowers. They do look similar at times,and very often loomed flowers are crocheted together to make shawls or afgans or throws, but they are made very differently.

The petals on a crochet flower have to be crocheted or chained and so therefore have a structure, but a flower loom the flowers are made by wrapping yarns around posts and then securing the yarns in the centre- which means that you can see and feel the soft texture of the yarn you are using. The loops of yarn become the petals and are lifted over the posts at the end of the making.

Loomed flowers can be used for all sorts of things- as said, they can be crocheted together to make lots of pretty items- see some of the photos below- or they can be used on their own or in bunches to embellish accessories such as hats, bags and clothes. They can also be used individually as pins or brooches, or massed together to make corsages or even bouquets!

Take a look here at some of the patterns that we here at vintage visage provide on one of our Vintage flower loom making CDs-

You can make flowers from all types of yarns and they are excellent for using up odds and ends and scraps of yarn- you can even use strips of fabric or we have even seen them made from strips of plastic carrier bags- so they are a great way to recycle or upcycle lots of things...

Here are some of the vintage patterns to make lovely items- there are cushions, shawls, and items to wear- enjoy!

We sell the vintage patterns and the flower looms on the website- and we also sell the big knitting looms- the round ones we we think would be great for making huge flowers form strips of material as well as knitting...what do you think? Find them all by clicking here

09/05/2012

This is a lovely example of how vintage patterns which were designed for one type of use, can also be used for other things.

Here at Vintage Visage we love these 1940s lapel doll pins and brooches- they are so cute and sweet and easy to make. They use tiny amonts of yarn and so can use up all of your left overs and odds and ends of yarn. There are 8 designs- a ballerina, a pierrot, an airman, a sailor, girl and boy twins, a 'gay bachelor', and a golly.

The were originally made with embroidery thread and then the clothes are knitted to create the different types of character- you could easily make up your own personalised characters by just changing colours - perhaps make a bride and groom! (for the top of a cake perhaps?...)- or make one for each of your friends, knitting the clothes like each of their favourites!

We think that these would also make great Christmas tree decorations- the pierrot could be quite easily made into a santa, or a mrs claus, and the others would look cute too. The ballerina could be turned into a fairy very easily by making the clothes in white and adding some knitted or net wings.

For those of you who are looking to make items to sell then these are perfect- they are quick and easy to make, and when you have made each one, attach it to a piece of card with a pretty design or your own logo. People love to buy small items which are called 'impulse buys' and once your customers know the quality of your work then hopefully they will be back for bigger items too.....